Mind Storm is a RareUnit Curse belonging to the Sorcery Magic realm. For 35 it may be cast on an enemy unit during combat. The target does not get to make a Resistance roll to avert this curse - it immediately receives -5, -5, -5 and -5! If the target possesses a Thrown Attack, that attack's strength is also reduced by -5. These penalties will continue to affect the unit until the end of the battle or until Mind Storm is dispelled.

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Mind Storm can significantly reduce an enemy unit's combat potential across the board - both offensively and defensively - potentially rendering the unit combat-incapable. It also makes the target more susceptible to additional Curses and ill effects.

While a unit is under the effect of Mind Storm, its Melee Attack strength is reduced by -5. If it has a Ranged Attack at all, that attack's strength is also reduced by -5 (or -5 or -5, as appropriate).

This essentially reduces the potential number of hits the unit may inflict when using these attacks - thus reducing potential Damage output, and subsequently the unit's average damage output.

If the unit's Melee or Ranged Attack is reduced to a score of 0 or lower, that unit will no longer be able to use that attack at all. If Melee Attack value is reduced to 0 or less, the unit will also be unable to Counter Attack against any opponent.

Note that Multi-Figure units have their attacks reduced by -5 per figure. For example, a unit containing 6 figures will have actually lost up to -30 from its attack strength!

The Mind Storm spell also reduces the target's Defense score by -5. This reduces the number of attempts that unit gets for blocking Damage from enemy attacks. As a result, the unit will likely suffer more damage whenever struck by any damage-delivering source, including direct-damage spells.

A unit with 0 or less Defense score does not get to make any rolls to avert damage to itself.

Note that Multi-Figure units have their Defense reduced by -5 per figure. As per the combat damage rules, only one figure in a unit may make Defense rolls in combat unless that figure is killed (in which case the next figure gets to make the same number of Defense rolls). This means that in effect the unit's defenses are significantly more impaired against large amounts of damage.

One of the most important effects of Mind Storm is a penalty of -5 to the target's Resistance score.

This effectively makes the unit significantly less resistant to further Curses or other ill-effects inflicted during combat, including Stoning Damage attacks, Poison Damage attacks and other similar attacks delivered by enemy units.

If a unit's Resistance drops to 0 or less as a result from this effect, it becomes unable to resist almost any ill-effects. The only exception would be effects that give the unit a Resistance bonus high enough to raise its score to 1 or more.

Mind Storm's Resistance-reducing effect can also be used to bring a unit's Resistance score below 10. Any unit with 10 or higher is immune to Curses and ill-effects that do not inflict a Resistance penalty, so lowering Resistance below 10 makes an otherwise immune unit vulnerable to such effects.

Mind Storm may only be cast during combat, for a Casting Cost of 35. It must be targeted at an enemy unit.

The enemy unit does not get any chance to Resist this Curse. The only units who are unaffected by Mind Storm are those with either Illusions Immunity or Magic Immunity - they may not be targeted by the spell. Units lacking these abilities will automatically be affected by Mind Storm if it is cast upon them.

Once Mind Storm is successfully cast on a unit, it will immediately affect that unit's statistics as explained above. The unit will continue to suffer from Mind Storm until the end of the battle, or until Mind Storm is dispelled - whichever comes first.

While the spell is in effect, the cursed unit will have a series of flashing Blue lights spiraling around it, as seen in the image to the right.

As a RareSorcery spell, Mind Storm may become available to any Wizard who possesses at least 2Spellbooks. However, its availability during the game is not guaranteed unless the Wizard acquires at least 10 Spellbooks.

Customized Wizards possessing 11 Spellbooks at creation time may choose this spell as one of their default spells before starting the game, in which case the spell will already be researched and available for casting immediately on the first turn.

Wizards with 2 to 9 Spellbooks have a random chance of being able to ResearchMind Storm during the game. The chance for this spell to appear for research increases with the number of Sorcery Spellbooks the Wizard possesses or obtains during gameplay. With 10 or 11 Spellbooks, the spell is guaranteed to appear for Research at some point, if it is not already available for casting.

With at least 2 Spellbooks, the Mind Storm spell may be acquired as a reward for winning encounters in creature Lairs, Towers, et cetera, or when conquering the Fortress of a rival wizard who has already researched this spell.

When cast on a low-tier or even a mid-tier unit, Mind Storm can render that unit completely incapable of doing combat and/or defending itself in battle. Such units can then be destroyed very easily.

However, Mind Storm is more often used to weaken very powerful units - especially because it ignores the target's Resistance score. Therefore, even the most Resistant enemy units can be afflicted with this Curse and weakened considerably. As an additional bonus, the -5 penalty inflicted by Mind Storm make such units susceptible to further Curses or other combat maledictions, allowing a powerful wizard to cast more spells upon them and weaken them further or eliminate them altogether. This is an exceptionally effective way of getting rid of very powerful Fantastic Creatures or high-level Champions!